


Something Good (The Happy Paws Remix)

by carminesunset



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Veterinarians, Fluff, Humor, Jean Moreau is here kinda, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-27
Updated: 2019-10-27
Packaged: 2021-01-13 15:21:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21155336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carminesunset/pseuds/carminesunset
Summary: In which the Happy Paws Veterinary Clinic tries to unravel the mystery of Doctor Erik Klose’s new love.





	Something Good (The Happy Paws Remix)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Leahelisabeth (fortheloveofcamelot)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fortheloveofcamelot/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Something Good](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13627890) by [Leahelisabeth (fortheloveofcamelot)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fortheloveofcamelot/pseuds/Leahelisabeth). 

> Firstly, thank you to gluupor and leahelisabeth for organizing this event! I had so much fun with this remix :D  
Secondly, thank you (again!!!) to gluupor for beta-ing this fic :)
> 
> For the background events to make sense, please read the original fic! It is amazing and I was ROLLING AROUND IN HAPPINESS when i first read it!!
> 
> Finally, I hope that you’ll like this remix, Leah!! :3 it was so much fun to write

It is a well-known fact that no one — absolutely  _ no one  _ — in the Happy Paws Veterinary Clinic can function without a cup of coffee. This is why when Jeremy stumbles from the break room into the main office with an empty mug early one morning, everyone’s stomach drops to their feet.

“Guys,” come the dreaded words. Jeremy slides down the door jamb, groaning. “Our coffee machine is  _ broken _ .”

“ _ Broken? _ What do you mean broken?”

“This is a joke, right? Some cruel prank?”

“What the hell did you do, Jeremy?”

“I didn’t do anything!” He cries, waving his empty mug. “I even turned it off and on and nothing happened!” Jeremy cradles the mug to his chest, sniffing. “ _ I haven’t even had my first mug, yet…” _

“This calls for an emergency,” Sara, one of the vet techs, says seriously. “Cancel all the appointments, call — I don’t know, the coffee committee, someone, anyone to fix the machine —”

“We can’t just cancel the appointments!”

“Just say that the office is flooded.”

“Sara, that’s unrealistic.”

“Well I don’t see you coming up with anything better!”

Being as early as it is, none of the day’s patients nor veterinarians have come in yet. Good thing, too, or else the animals would have been startled by the shouting.

“Wait a minute,” interrupts Laila. “Who’s the veterinarian scheduled to open the clinic today with us?”

“Erik, right? The new veterinarian?”

“Why don’t we ask Erik to just pick up some coffees? Isn’t there a cafe just down the block anyways?”

They all scramble for their phones.

-

It is also a well-known fact in the Happy Paws Veterinary Clinic that Erik Klose is a friendly, though private man. He’s the type of person to greet you in the morning with a charming smile, but also keep his cards close to his chest.

(It’s also why he’s so good at poker, as the monthly office game nights will soon prove.)

So, when he comes to the clinic holding the promised coffees, a box of muffins, and a dopey grin on his face, everyone is naturally nosy — er, curious.

“Looks like someone woke up on the right side of the bed today,” says Laila to Erik, as he sets the coffees and muffins down on the break room table.

“You could say that,” Erik shrugs. He obviously tries to play it cool, but the same day-dreaming smile keeps slipping onto his face.

“Something happen?” she asks proddingly. “Won a bet? Pet a cute dog?”

Erik ignores her in favor of a muffin. They both ignore the fact that the rest of the office is clearly listening in.

“No, no… You get to do that every day,” Laila ponders. “Do you just really like muffins or something?” A twitch. Hook. “Not quite. Is it… something to do with the cafe you bought them from?” Line. “No, a certain  _ person? _ ” Sinker.

Erik’s ears turn red with his blush. “Did you check the kennels already? Maybe you should check them again.”

“You can’t leave us hanging like that, Doc!” Erik waves them away as the rest of the staff shout at him.

But of course, none of them can leave well enough alone.

-

“Okay, here’s the plan. We can go to the dark web and hack into his email —”

“Sara, your plans seriously suck. Do you even know how the internet works?”

“Shh!” She hisses at everyone crowded around her. Luckily, the coffee machine was finally working again this morning, and they each had a steaming mug in their hands. After all, nothing could handle a good scolding from her, not even the wayward coffee machine. “Listen! Don’t you want to know about whoever Erik has fallen in love with?”

“No.”

“Wait, Erik’s dating someone?”

“Well, it’s not any of our business, isn’t it…?”

She waves away their concern. “No, no you don’t get it. We barely know him and he’s been here for like three months. Can any of you list one thing that you know about him?”

Jeremy raises his hand.

“That  _ isn’t _ related to work?”

Jeremy lowers his hand.

“Exactly. Now’s our chance to find out more about him! It’s a perfect, fool-proof plan.”

“Why don’t you just, I don’t know,  _ ask _ him?” says one of the vet techs. A foolish one, Sara notes in her mind.

“That’s his car pulling up! Everyone, scram!”

Everyone scrambles to look busy as Erik walks in.

“Good morning,” he greets. Everyone’s eyes narrow on the to-go cup in his hand. The logo on it isn’t the Galaxydollars that he usually drinks, but is instead the logo of the cafe he visited the day previously. Sara glances pointedly at Laila, who rolls her eyes.

“Hey, Erik. Coffee machine’s working now, by the way,” says the Foolish Vet Tech. Sara sees where this is going and gestures at him with slashing motions. No! Stop! He continues on while ignoring her. “You like that coffee place, huh?”

“Something like that,” Erik says, and oh, my. Was that a wistful sigh? Guess the vet tech wasn’t so foolish after all. “I like the atmosphere of the place. It’s a cat cafe, did you know?”

“Mm, no, I didn’t,” Sara says thoughtfully. Screw her original plan. This small interaction has taught her far more than she knew before.

And so the days continue on and for weeks afterward, Erik strolls into the clinic with the same to-go cup in his hand. No amount of prodding gets him to offer up any more information though, no matter how hard any of them try. A couple of the staff even stop by the cafe to see the cats, but there was just a surly-looking blonde guy working the front. There is no way that friendly, amicable Erik Klose would be attracted to someone that hostile. (There is always that age-old adage that opposites attract, however...)

-

One day, things change. Unexpected complications crop up in what was supposed to be a simple surgery. To the joy of both the clinic staff and the patient’s owners, it’s successful, but the journey is certainly strenuous. By the time Erik scrubs out, he looks dreadful.

“You should just head home early, do the paperwork at home. You don’t have any more appointments today, anyways,” Jeremy says to him. “Why don’t you stop at that cafe you like so much? I’m sure it will cheer you up.”

“Yeah, I’ll — “ Here, Erik interrupts himself to yawn. “Yeah, I’ll do that. Thanks.”

Sara herself thinks nothing of this until the next day, when Erik comes in bearing the usual cup of coffee and another gift on his neck.

“Is that a hickey, Doc?” asks Laila gleefully.

Erik is once again wearing that same dopey grin from all those days ago, but it is quickly swept away by shock. “Wait, what?” He says and scrambled toward the decorative mirror in the waiting room. Indeed there is a bright red mark at the base of his throat that his shirt just barely doesn’t manage to hide. He curses and rubs at it to no avail.

“Are you going to tell us now, Erik? We’ve all been dying to know who it is you’ve been infatuated with!”

Facing down the stares of his coworkers and trapped between the mirror and the desk, it is obvious that Erik has no way out. He sighs. 

“Alright, fine.”

Everyone cheers and trades high-fives.

“But  _ only _ if you behave.” He wags his finger at them. “I know how you guys cheat on game night!”

“It’s not cheating if everyone does it,” Sara retorts.

“That literally doesn’t make sense and you know it!” replies the Not-So-Foolish Vet Tech. Sara downgrades him to Foolish again.

At this point, Erik is (mostly) used to ignoring their shenanigans. “His name is Nicky, and yes, he works at the cat cafe down the street. I think he owns it, actually. And yes, he is very cute, and no you can’t meet him because we’ve only just started dating and I don’t want to scare him away with my nosy coworkers.”

“We won’t scare him away,” Laila says. “And won’t he be coming around sometime, anyways? The guy has a lot of cats in his cafe, it’s inevitable he’ll need to visit a veterinarian sometime.”

Erik has this pinched look on his face like he wants to argue, but Jeremy squeaks over to him with his rolly chair.

“C’mon, Doc…“ Jeremy says with a beseeching gaze. “We  _ promise _ to be on our best behavior.”

Erik caves. “If, and only if, his cats need a checkup, can you meet him. But the coffee machine isn’t broken, and I’ll make sure it stays that way, so you guys don’t need to visit the coffee shop either.”

Sara and the rest of the crew sigh, but at least it is one concession in (hopefully) many.

Of course, Erik shouldn’t have hoped that things would stay sane for very long.

-

It’s just past three o’clock, right around the time when the staff are getting their second — or third, or fourth, or fifth — cup of coffee. The lovingly used coffee machine (nicknamed “Jean” by Jeremy for no other reason than, “I liked the name!”) is chugging along perfectly well, until…

It doesn’t.

It isn’t  _ quite _ accurate to say that all hell breaks loose at the Happy Paws Veterinary Clinic because they like to at least pretend they have  _ some _ form of professionalism, but at least a quarter of hell breaks loose. Maybe half.

“ _ Laila!” _ hisses Sara. “Code brown!”

Laila blinks. “Did Mister Shnookums do a poo in the kennel again?”

“No!” Sara flails at her. “Not that code brown! The other one!” She leans in close, and Laila bends down to hear her better. ”The coffee machine broke again!”

“ _ No _ …” Laila whispers in horror.

“Yes!” 

“What do we do?” Laila asks, clutching Sara’s arm. “The surgery is supposed to end in fifteen minutes. They’re going to need coffee. And a coffee-deprived vet tech is  _ not _ something I want to face right now. Or ever.”

“Well...” Sara says, getting that Look™ on her face, the one that precedes some ridiculous plan of hers. “Erik’s almost finished with that checkup… We could ask him to get us some coffees from that coffee place. See if they can deliver.”

Laila narrows her eyes at Sara. “Did you orchestrate this just to meet the owner of that Cafe?”

“No!” Sara says, shaking her head. “Though I really wish I had. That would have been a clever plan.”

Just then, Erik walks out of the examination room leading a customer to the waiting room. “The receptionist can help you now,” he says, gesturing to Laila. She wiggles her eyebrows meaningfully at Sara and helps the owner of the dog.

“Did you need something?” Erik asks Sara.

“Yeah, actually...” She looks around for straying ears, but it seems like no one is around. “The coffee machine broke again.”

“Again?” Erik scratches his chin. “We just fixed it, though...”

“I’m afraid it’s out of commission for good this time. I found a red and gold monstrosity for a decent price online, but it’ll be awhile before it can get here. Do you think that cafe you like will deliver?”

“Not sure,” Erik replies, pulling out his phone and scrolling through it. “Since I know the owner, they might make an exception.” He pauses, narrowing his eyes at her. “No shenanigans.”

Sara puts her hand over her heart. “I promise, there will be no shenanigans to be found.”

Erik steps outside to make the phone call, and Sara breathes a sigh of relief. The caffeine-monsters will get their coffee,  _ and _ they’ll probably get to meet Erik’s boyfriend. Score!

-

Fifteen minutes later, on the dot, the doorbell chimes. A man just about Erik’s height, maybe a little shorter, walks in with wind-swept hair and two drink carriers of fresh coffee. 

“Sorry if this isn’t enough, I know there are a lot of you that work here today. Just let Erik know if you need any more. My cousin will be coming over soon with some pastries, too.”

Laila leads him to the break room where Jeremy is sobbing over the coffee machine.

“Jean,” he sniffs, stroking its red and black sides. “You have served us so well...”

Everyone’s eyes turn toward the door the moment the scent of coffee hits their senses.

“Is that — ”

“ — Coffee?” They all scramble toward the man and quickly relieve him of his burden.

“So, you’re Nicky, right?” Sara asks, when the rest of the caffeine monsters are preoccupied. “We’ve heard a bit about you from Erik.”

“Oh, is that so?” Nicky rubs the back of his neck in embarrassment. “Um, well. We’re — you know, it’s still new and all… I didn’t realize he would talk about me.”

“He’s usually pretty reserved, but we can usually tell when he’s coming back from visiting you.”

“What makes you say that?” Nicky asks curiously, not noticing the figure behind him.

Sara smiles knowingly. “He just gets this look on his face, like he never wants to leave you, wherever you were. Kind of like that.” She nods behind him.

“What?” Nicky turns around, almost face planting into a chest. “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there!”

“It’s fine,” Erik replies, and maybe Sara is imagining it, but it seems like his kind voice becomes even softer, sweeter. “Sorry to bother you.”

“No, no, like I said, I was getting off work, anyways. It wasn’t a big deal.” They stare at each other for a moment, looking into each other’s eyes. “Are you… done for today, too?”

“I am, yes.” They continue to gaze at each other lovingly. Sara is surprised that hearts aren’t popping up around them. 

Nicky seems just as friendly and sweet as Erik is, Sara notes. Certainly not a case of opposites-attract, but they still seem perfect for each other. There is certainly something good — no, something  _ great _ between them.

She nudges everyone but the couple out the door of the break room. They’ve heckled Erik enough about this subject.

-

There is one last fact that everyone at the Happy Paws Veterinary Clinic knows: Erik Klose is a private man, but put him in the same room as Nicky Hemmick, and he’ll shout to the world how in love he is.

**Author's Note:**

> [ My Tumblr! ](https://mokuuton.tumblr.com)  
[ My Twitter! ](https://twitter.com/mokuuton)  
Check back after reveals! :D


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